Between the Lines
by DelinquentUnicorn
Summary: ASOIAF high school AU, primarily Jaime x Brienne focused. Sorry, no sexytimes in here, just cheesy fun.
1. Brienne I

**Author's Note: I know High School AU's are probably cheesy and overdone, but I started this crack fic at 2 in the morning one night and I'll be damned if I don't finish what I started. So enjoy the sheer silliness.**

* * *

The moment Mrs. Stark told them it was going to be a partnered assignment, Brienne's heart sunk like a stone. Her work was always best when she did the project solo. Everyone else just shot down her ideas.

Luckily, there was one saving grace; the partners would be chosen by popsicle stick, rather than milling around the room claiming your best friend before somebody else did. Brienne bit her lip. Last time that had happened, she'd looked hopefully over at her friend Renly (he was the only person in class who ever talked to her). But he'd already paired up with Loras, leaving Brienne to stare dolefully around the room until similarly partnerless Cleos had ambled over to her desk.

Partner projects were politics, and Brienne was not a politically savvy girl.

She listened intently for her name to be called. Mrs. Stark was calling out, "Renly, will be partnered with-" come on, come on- "Stannis." The boys pulled faces at each other from across the room. Brienne felt deeply disappointed, but at least he hadn't been paired with some pretty girl. She felt selfish just for thinking that, but the feeling was there all the same.

"…and Brienne." She looked up, blushing. _I must have zoned out_. Looking around for a sign of who her partner was, Brienne was temporarily confused until she heard giggling coming from the back corner. She turned.

There was the trio of golden-haired kids, sitting turned towards one another, and all pointing at her with manicured hands. In the center, the boy was looking at her with a smirk on his face, saying something to his sister, who glared at Brienne intently.

No way. There was no way she had gotten paired with Jaime Lannister.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Jaime mouthed at her, and shrugged.

Brienne turned around, silently fuming. Out of all the people she could have gotten, of course it would be the popular kid, the one who never said a word to her directly but made biting comments when he knew she could hear. Sure he was handsome, and all the girls had crushes on him, but Brienne was not fooled by his charming demeanor.

When Mrs. Stark had finished, and was passing out papers for the assignment, Brienne looked up at her. Maybe her pleading look was written all over her face, because Mrs. Stark smiled apologetically. "I know I gave you a difficult partner," she whispered. "But you're the only one I can trust to get him to actually do any work."

Well, that might be true, at least.

Everyone stood up, then, and went to find seats next to their partners. Brienne sat next to Jaime in his sister's empty seat, and stared at her hands for a moment, conscious of their size. She was determined not to let anything he said get under her skin.

Jaime turned toward her with a dramatic stretch and a sigh. "So. We got some species of fish. I don't know how to pronounce it."

Brienne snatched his paper, though her own sat on her desk. "What?" She looked. There was the name of the fish. And there was its name in Valyrian. They had to do their final science project…on a fish?

"That's lame," she muttered, lamely.

"Got any ideas?" Jaime asked, blinking with an innocent smile.

It was going to be a long project.

—-

That night at dinner, Brienne's father, Selwyn, had prepared some sort of fish, and she vaguely wondered if it was the same kind that she had to do her project on. When they sat down, he asked her about her day, as always.

"Turns out our science final is with partners," she said, pushing peas around unhappily. "I got Jaime Lannister."

Selwyn looked like he was trying to hide a smile. "That boy you said everyone thinks is cute?" He pointed his fork at her. "I don't know, maybe he's not as bad as you think."

Brienne frowned. "Dad. No. I mean, I guess he's cute. Maybe." The maybe was stressed with a glare. "But either way, he's still a jerk." She hesitated. "He calls me names, and stuff."

At that, her father looked concerned. "What kind of names? You know, I work for his father's company, I could say something if he's really bothering y-"

"No!" Brienne said quickly. "I can deal with him myself, it's not that big of a deal. I just didn't want to have to do my final with him, is all." She felt bad for making her father worry. Sometimes he was a bit distant from her, with his girlfriends and his work. And she hadn't exactly been the model child for him. Sometimes she felt like he wanted a normal daughter, who didn't wear boy's clothes, or cut her hair. Sometimes she felt like they had nothing in common. But in the end, she knew he cared about her. And that was comforting.

Selwyn reached out instinctively and gave her hair a short stroke before withdrawing his hand. "Well, if he gets too unruly," he suggested, "you take charge and make him do all the dirty work."

Brienne managed a smile. "Sounds like a plan," she said.


	2. Brienne II

Brienne was determined not to let her unfortunate popsicle stick fate ruin her day. She stepped out of the car with a tentative "good luck" from her father and walked to her usual spot near the auditorium. Groups of people stood clustered around chatting with one another.

Even though it was morning, the sun was already shining, and Brienne regretted wearing a jacket. She slid it off as she walked, alternating her bag from one shoulder to the other to free her sleeves. Just as she began to feel self-conscious, she heard a catcall from nearby.

"Strip! Strip!"

Brienne didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so she did neither, merely casting the boys a death glare, which they ignored before going back to their conversation. She recognized them all from her classes -

Past them, she noticed the Lannister kids striding about, mysteriously color-coordinated again in red. Jaime had a pair of rose-tinted sunglasses pulled over his eyes, but she thought his head turned in her direction for a split second.

She shook her head. What did he want? All she wanted to do was get this project out of the way, and be rid of him.

There were still some ten minutes before the bell rang, so Brienne sat on a bench and pulled out her book. She hadn't been reading for five seconds when there was a tap on her shoulder. She jumped, and cleared her throat before looking up to see who it was.

It was just who she hadn't wanted it to be.

Hyle looked down at her thoughtfully. "What are you reading?"

She lifted the cover so he could see the title on the front.

He nodded, though she could tell he'd never read it and probably didn't care. Instead he gave her a winsome grin, and held out his hand. In it he offered her a tiny origami dragon made out of shiny paper, which glinted in the sun.

"I just thought I'd give you this," he said. "I've been making a lot of them. They're supposed to give you good luck."

Brienne took it, but looked up at him with suspicion written on her face. "Thank you," she said.

"No problem. By the way," Hyle added, "you can come sit with us at lunch today if you want to. You've got to be lonely, just sitting in your little corner."

Brienne nodded, and that seemed to satisfy him, because he turned away smirking to swagger back to his friends. They were no longer calling out "Strip!", but the words still rang in her head.

The truth was that she had used to feel flattered by the attentions of Hyle and his friends. She'd hung out with them, even. But in time, she'd overheard enough gossip and been warned by enough girls that they were only teasing. That hurt worse than if they had never paid her any attention at all.

Moments after he had gone, the bell sounded with a long breeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Brienne felt deeply relieved. At least in class, she could take her mind off things.

Keeping her mind on school, and not on her people problems, worked for a couple of hours. English and Statistics and Government all flew by easily. But when Science class came, Brienne's dread returned.

Renly leaned over to her casually once they'd sat down. "What's your animal?" he asked. It took her a moment to register what he meant.

"Some kind of fish." Brienne blushed. Surely there had to be a way to make that sound exciting, but she couldn't find the words for it.

"Me and Loras got a type of mountain deer. It's pretty cool, actually," he admitted. There it was again - 'me and Loras'. Brienne wondered where the other boy was. Not here yet, she supposed, or Renly wouldn't be talking to her. The thought came with no bitterness, just a sort of ache.

"Pardon me, excuse me," came a smooth voice from in front of them. Brienne felt a twinge of annoyance at Jaime, who pushed his way through the aisle, purposefully bumping into Brienne's desk. "Oops."

Renly gave her an amused look. "I hope you know how to tame him," he said.

Brienne glanced at her partner, whose eyes twinkled mischeviously. She muttered, "Definitely."

As Mrs. Stark set the students to work, making plans and posters and whatever else they wanted to do, Brienne assumed her confident air. "I think we should do something totally different. You know, something no one else will think of."

"Got anything in mind?" Jaime asked coolly.

"Live specimens. We've got a fish, right? There's no way to make that look awesome, but maybe if we bring some in a tank - or, we could even dissect it and take pictures - it would be pretty cool." She waited for him to respond, nervous at what he would say. She had liked the idea when she thought of it last night, glimpsing her dad's lake gear in the garage. But when she said it now, it sounded sort of silly. And complicated.

But Jaime didn't scoff. Indeed, he looked rather interested. "That's true. Though I wouldn't put it past them -" he gestured to Renly and Loras, who were talking animatedly, sticking their arms out from their heads like antlers - "to catch a live stag and bring it in."

Brienne rolled her eyes. She wouldn't admit it to Jaime, but that was just the sort of thing they would do, if allowed.

"So," she said, "I was looking for places nearby that would have these…"

They talked for a few more minutes, making plans. When they had decided on a time and place - Saturday morning, on the Tumblestone - Jaime sat back and raised an eyebrow. "The one person I never thought I'd go on a fishing trip with."


End file.
